The third major release in the Amiga computer family, the Amiga 3000 is a vast improvement over previous
Amiga models - it offers improved speed, better graphics capabilites, and a new and improved operating system.

While the first two models, the A1000 and A2000,
were similar in architecture and performance, the A3000 is a totally new, designed from the ground up as a
powerful high-end graphics workstation.

The new Motorola 32-bit 68030 CPU, 68882 math co-processor, and 32-bit system memory helped increase the "integer"
processing speed by a factor of 5 to 18, and the "floating point" processing speed by a factor of 7 to 200 times.

While every Amiga has always had a 32-bit pre-emptive multitasking Operating System, the new "Workbench 2.04"
Operating System, seen above on the right, offers a much more professional look and feel than the older
Operating System 1.3, on the left, which was included with the Amiga 1000 and 2000.
Other features include easier system hook-in for programmers, as well as better and easier user interaction.

Commodore had a licensing agreement with AT&T to include a port of Unix System V (release 4),
which was available with the Amiga 3000UX.

The new ECS (Enhanced Chip Set)
custom graphics architecture allows previously unattainable graphics modes, such as 640x960, 1280x512,
and 1008x1024 resolution, although in a limited number of colors.
The A3000 graphics performance was up to 3.3 times faster than previous models.

The built-in scandoubler and de-interlacing circuit modifies the standard Amiga 15KHz video signal to 31KHz,
so a common PC VGA computer monitor can be used. This circuitry functions as a
"flicker-fixer", eliminating the annoying "flicker" that often occurs on interlaced video signals.

Until now, no Amiga computer had a built-in hard drive controller, and the A3000 went all-out, with a
high-speed DMA SCSI controller.
Up to seven internal and external SCSI devices can be attached, such as hard drives, scanners, CD-ROMs, etc.

In order to conserve space, up to four expansion cards can be installed into the A3000 horizontally,
as opposed to vertically in the A2000 and most other computer systems.
Three different types of expansion slots exist in the A3000 -
(1) Amiga Video slot, (4) Zorro II,III, and (2) ISA slots for PC compatibility,
with some slots in-line with others.

The A3000 is the only Amiga computer to use the weird ZIP DRAM chips, which are installed vertically, rather
than the usual horizontal position of most IC chips.

History of the Amiga Computer

1982: Hi-Toro Incorporated is formed by a group of midwest investors trying to
cash in on the video game craze. The name was later changed to Amiga, Incorporated after
being confused with the lawn-mower manufacturer, Toro.